At about 4:15 AM on Sunday, May 31, 2015, officers from District B-3 (Mattapan) made two arrests for firearm related offenses in the area of 95 Spencer Street in Dorchester.

About an hour prior, plain-clothes officers established surveillance in the areas of Spencer/Wheatland/Talbot Ave/Millet Street due to recent and ongoing issues of shots fired and gun activity. Officers observed a group of males exhibiting suspicious movements and hostility at the mere presence of police officers.

Two of these males separated themselves from the group, and after a brief conversation with the officers in a cruiser, walked away on Spencer Street. Additional officers continued surveillance on these males and observed them continuously look back over their shoulders at the officers’ cruiser while one male adjusted an object in his waistband. Officers then observed the two males duck quickly into an alley in the area of 95 Spencer Street and emerge about 30 seconds later only to walk back in the direction they came.

Believing the males had just discarded a firearm, officers exited their cruiser and investigated the area. Shortly, officers located a loaded silver Jennings 9mm firearm with a black handle on the ground in between two trash cans. Based on the officers’ observations, as well as statements made by witnesses in the area, officers placed 23-year-old James Mendes of Dorchester under arrest and charged him with Unlawful Possession of a Firearm, Unlawful Possession of Ammunition, Carrying a Loaded Firearm, and Armed Career Criminal.

The second male, 23-year-old Jamall Leslie of Roxbury, was wearing a GPS tracking device as a condition of probation on a prior charge. Leslie was arrested and charged with a Probation Violation.